


The Founding of Teeptown

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [11]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Backstory, Bigotry & Prejudice, Canon Compliant, Discrimination, Fix-It, Gen, Lee Crawford plots world domination, POV Character of Color, Psi Corps, Teeptown, The Corps Was Right, The Psi Corps tag is mine, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 07:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10381518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: The Big Reveal of Lee Crawford's Evil Plans!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> This story expands upon a scene in _Dark Genesis_. In revisiting that scene, I have cut, pasted, edited and modified the text to include other relevant canon material that wasn't included in the original telling. Canon's version of this scene also ends too soon - Kevin passes the test, Tom is going to trust him with The Big Secret, and then the scene ends without the big reveal! I've finished the scene.
> 
> From Dark Genesis, p. 217:
> 
> "When I first became Senator Crawford's aide, I was infiltrating the MRA organization - not to sabotage it, necessarily, but to understand it from the inside, to form an opinion of it. Over time, my opinion of it grew, and I began to see its importance."

2134\. Geneva.

            On his first day as Senator Crawford’s new aide, Kevin Vacit knew he had a lot to learn.

            Kevin's whole life had led up to this point - from his humble beginnings as a Zuni orphan in New Mexico, to his two degrees in neurophysics, his career shift into law (Harvard, top of the class), to his prestigious position with the Houston special attorney for metasensory evidence. Now here he stood in the office of the most powerful man on the planet.

            Kevin had met Crawford earlier in the day. Crawford could hardly believe Kevin wasn't yet twenty-four years old. The old man didn't want to let on, but Kevin could feel he was more than a little jealous. It was a bit like a high profile clerkship, Kevin decided - were Crawford applying to be his own aide, especially with his resume at twenty-four, he'd never even get an interview.

            Now, however, the Senator was attending to other business, away. Tom Nguyen, who had served as Crawford’s aide for nineteen years, and who had interviewed Kevin for the position, stood from his desk to greet the third member of their party, a lean fellow the color of dark coffee.

            “Kevin Vacit,” said Tom, “may I introduce Akimba Ironheart.”

            Kevin shook the man’s black-gloved hand.

            “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s standard operating procedure to have a teep along for these sorts of things.”

            “A ‘teep’?” asked Kevin, pretending he didn’t know the slang for telepath. He made a mental note of Tom's usage of the word; he had only heard the term used by telepaths themselves, never by normals.

            That was interesting.

            “Our office isn’t always as formal as you might suppose, at least not behind closed doors,” Tom said with grin. Then he got back to business. “To be candid, Mr. Vacit, assisting Lee is an extremely sensitive position. Even the vice president doesn’t have higher clearance.”

            “I understand completely,” Kevin said, making another mental note - the president and Sen. Crawford knew more about telepath policy than the VP. Damn. “And I’m aware of Mr. Ironheart’s reputation as a court telepath," Kevin continued, turning to the African man. "You worked on the Knorozov trial, didn't you?”

            Ironheart seemed pleased. “I did.”

            “That was good work.”

            “Thank you.”

            Kevin had done his homework on every "teep" who worked in Crawford's office. His efforts were paying off.

            Tom drummed his fingers on his desk. “Another reason for Mr. Ironheart’s joining us has to do with security above and beyond you. Some of the things I’m going to tell you can’t be overheard, and there are a lot of people who would like to overhear, teep and normal alike.”

            Kevin nodded.

            “The first thing I want to stress is that this job carries some risk. While it’s not well known, there have been four attempts on the senator’s life in the past nineteen years.[1] None succeeded, and in each case after the first, teeps were able to identify the assassin before his attempt.”

            “I haven't heard about these.” Kevin mentally ticked off the list of countries who could have sent assassins – The Russian Consortium, Amazonia, China, India… the senator’s list of enemies was long. Perhaps some of the assassins had even been telepaths themselves.

            “You wouldn’t have heard,” said Tom. “We keep these things out of the news. Many things, in fact.” He walked around to the front of his desk and looked his potential replacement square in the eye. “Cards on the table, Kevin – you’ve signed a nondisclosure document, an oath even. That’s to be taken seriously, and it starts now. I ask you again, for the record – do you swear to keep the things I tell you confidential?”

            “I do.”

            “Do you swear on your life?”

            “I do.”

            He felt Akimba paying intense attention to him, and a faint presence in his mind.

            “He’s telling the truth,” said the former court telepath.

            Tom smiled thinly.

            Kevin smiled, too, at the ease at which he had outfoxed even the best foxes. There would be no more tests. He was in.

            “Good,” said Tom. “Let’s go have a look at Teeptown, then.”

            Kevin, Tom and Akimba climbed into a government groundcar and headed off. When they approached the "village," they passed the security guards, drove past the concertina wire and stunfence, and entered "Teeptown." They exited the vehicle, and Kevin took in the broad avenue, the carefully sculpted landscape. In the middle distance, he could see a mass of scaffolding and lifters busily at work, and beyond that the sharp peaks of the Alps.

            “Is that EarthDome?” he asked, pointing toward the distant construction.

            Tom nodded. “It will be. What else could it be? It should be a wonder when it’s done. All lit up in blue, I'm told.” For a moment, a brief regret seemed to flash across his face, then he turned in a slow circle. “This is the metasensory compound.”

            “It looks more like a village.” The buildings were mostly new and fresh, unpretentious ceramic brick, a hue removed from natural earth tones, topped with high, pitched roofs. More than anything, the complex resembled some of the self-towns that had sprung up in rural areas over the last few decades – homages to an earlier time. Simulated small towns, as it were.

            “It is, Mr. Vacit, hence its name, 'Teeptown.' That’s the square, there – bars, restaurants, a few shops. Those larger buildings on the hill there are the dormitories for the children and singles. Married housing is down that way.” He gestured.

            “I thought, from what you told me, that it would be more like a military base.”

            “We try to minimize that feel. Teeps are not ordinary enlistees, as I’m sure you know. Most come from civilian backgrounds, and though they find themselves more comfortable here, with other teeps, than they did out in the ‘mundane’ world, we want them to have some of the comforts of the lives they’ve left behind. If you know the military, you know the people on military bases are always trying to get off base. Most teeps would rather stay here, though, where they are safe. But given that factor of isolation, we try to make life as – you’ll excuse me, Akimba – ‘normal’ as possible.”

            Tom laughed a little at his own joke, though neither Akimba nor Kevin said anything. They walked along the paths of the “village.” Kevin saw a lot of children, fewer adults, the occasional uniformed cop or functionary.

            “Metasensory has four legs, as it were: Business, judiciary, law enforcement and verbal arts. First and foremost, metasensory’s function is education. Teeps are taught how to use their powers and how to control them. The younger we get them, the better.”

            “What about the parents of the children?”

            “What about them?” asked Tom. “This is a boarding school. A pilot program, of sorts. The parents can visit, the children can go home on holidays – if they’re deemed able to control their powers. It’s not perfect, but it works. Eventually, most kids end up feeling more at home here than with their parents – I suppose that's inevitable.”

            “But what about the parents?”

            “Again, what about them? Most teep kids have at least one teep parent, so we have whole families here. Many of the children were born here. In fact, we’ll be having our first secondary school graduating class in just three years. An exciting day.”

            “I look forward to it.”

            Kevin knew that nothing Tom had shown him so far was actually confidential. Everyone knew the Authority had built this “village” in the shadow of what would some day be EarthDome, and that any children identified as telepaths had to attend the Authority’s school.

            His eyes drifted off into the distance, to the barbed wire fencing.

            “Education goes beyond teep abilities, of course,” Tom was saying. “All of the usual courses are offered, but we try to steer people toward careers for which they are best suited. Here, for instance, we have the school of law enforcement, and there the verbal arts college. And, of course we have a military prep academy. The Authority acts as a clearinghouse. We hire teeps out to private business, where they monitor deals – on a mutual-consent basis, and for a fee. We also hire them out to EarthForce, where they mostly serve in Alliance security, and to the courts, which I know you are already familiar with.”

            Again, Tom had told him nothing even remotely confidential – anyone who did even the most cursory search on the ‘nets, or who had ever read a newspaper, knew as much. And though few outsiders got past the Teeptown gates, Kevin was far from unique in that regard. If classified activity took place here, Tom had given him no indication.

            Kevin watched as people walked to and from class, or went shopping. A few telepath children climbed on monkey bars. Two men walked together into a bar. All the telepath adults wore black leather gloves, but that was to be expected. If this place held secrets, Kevin knew, they lay under the surface.

            “And Senator Crawford oversees all of this?” he asked.

            Tom nodded. “Very little happens here without his knowing about it – which means you have to be up on it all. You understand the precautions we are lavishing on you.”

            “I do. I hope I’m found worthy. It’s exciting.”

            “Some of our detractors don’t think so,” said Tom, darkly. Kevin remembered reading about the bitter battles in the Senate, and now, he also knew there had been attempts on Crawford’s life.

            “I’ve heard some complain that the senator has too much influence.”

            It was an understatement. Tom smiled sardonically. “I don't doubt he is the most powerful man on the planet. I think you’re bright enough that I don’t have to explain why.”

            Kevin didn’t like Tom’s evasive answers. He had read everything public about the Authority, but there was much more he still didn’t know. Lee apparently had telepath bodyguards protecting him around the clock, and Authority had covered up four assassination attempts.

            There was more. Kevin was sure of it. But what?

            “Can I ask another question? One perhaps more sensitive?”

            “Shoot.”

            “The stunfence. The concertina wire.”

            “Ah. Ostensibly, it’s for the protection of the teeps. In reality, too – we’ve had many threats and a few isolated attacks on the complex. The local normals don’t much like the teeps. But as with any boarding school, we also have our share of would-be runaways.” He paused. “It’s not a perfect world, and this isn’t the perfect solution.”

            Kevin inwardly shook his head at Tom’s evasive answer. If he was going to take over Tom’s position, he needed to know everything.

            “I wasn’t criticizing, just asking. If I’m to do this job, I need all the information.”

            “In due time, Mr. Vacit.”

 

[1] Dark Genesis says fifteen years here, not nineteen - I have changed it because the first assassination attempt is shown in 2115, nineteen years earlier (on the Moon).


	2. Chapter 2

            Tom continued his walking tour of the Teeptown complex, pointing out each building to Kevin, but only from the outside. He told Kevin about the heated internal debate within EarthForce as to whether telepaths should be allowed to serve, even in their current limited capacity as security personnel or on special assignments. For the moment, telepaths were still permitted to enlist, but there was stiff opposition.

            “May I ask you something candid, Mr. Nguyen?”

            Tom nodded.

            “You’ve been his aide for a long time – since the beginning. Nineteen years. Why are you leaving?”

            “It’s personal. Very personal. I’ll just say that I think Lee deserves a better aide than I.” Tom looked down, seeming embarrassed, and Kevin realized that Tom had been having an affair with the senator’s wife.

            Well, that was interesting. Did Crawford know? Kevin wondered. Kevin suspected that he didn't - Tom was resigning preemptively, to try to avoid the scandal.

            He waited for Tom to continue.

            “Lee needs someone, Kevin. Someone he can trust. Someone who will always tell him the truth when he needs to hear it. Somewhere along the line, that stopped being me."

            _Yeah, no shit._

            "If you can’t do it, get out now. At this point, you haven’t seen too much, you don’t know too much. You can go your own way.”

            “Does that mean you can’t?”

            Tom made a "conflicted" face. “My options are somewhat more limited, for reasons of security. Yours will be, too, if you stay long and then decide to quit. But if you want to be near the throne, there are prices to pay. I’ve been at the center of the world since back when it spun in a different direction. I can’t stay here any longer, but I don’t regret a moment of it.”

            Kevin knew why Tom had to leave, and that Akimba, if he was paying attention, sensed it too. But no – Kevin could see African man running rhymes through his head[1] to distract himself from picking up on any of Tom’s thoughts, or Kevin's. As a telepath, he knew his “place,” and it was to “control his powers.”

            Stunfence. Concertina wire. Some walls were external, others internal.

            “You can count on me, Tom. And so can the sen – er, Lee.”

            Tom gestured. “This was his dream – one of them, anyway. Lee has many dreams.”

            “Tell me.”

            Tom nodded solemnly, and sent Akimba away, back to wait in the vehicle. _At last_ , Kevin thought. _He’s finally going to tell me the rest of the story._

            “I can’t take any chances,” Tom said, gesturing to the departing Akimba.

            “Of course.”

            “He’s a good teep, Akimba. But none can be fully trusted, especially not with this.”

            Kevin nodded, and Tom led him over to a secluded spot, far from the paths where passersby might overhear them.

            “Lee has big dreams,” Tom repeated. “He wants a global Earth Alliance – and one that includes the off-world colonies, as well.”

            “So do many, especially back home in his native United States.”

            “He wants the Authority to be global, too – universal, and independently chartered. You know the trouble we’ve had with teeps fleeing to India and other countries. He wants to put a stop to it.”

            “I take it the Indians don’t agree.”

            “Hardly. At least one of the assassins had ties to the Indian government.”

            Now, Kevin knew, he was getting somewhere. That information was _not_ public.

            “I’m sure you know about the violence of 2115,” said Tom, “even if you were too small then to remember it. Eighteen thousand telepaths were murdered that year, and according to public accounts, it was Lee who stopped it. But I was there. Lee’s smarter than he seems. Don’t be fooled by his country-boy act. He’s a very sharp old fox, and he just keeps getting sharper. He incited the very riots he’s credited with stopping.”

            Kevin bit his tongue and let Tom continue.

 

[1] _Paragon of Animals_ (“Do you know what a telepath has to do in order to avoid picking up stray thoughts? We have to kick down our natural abilities. Run rhymes and little songs through our heads, round and round. All that to keep from picking up what you’re broadcasting loud enough to be heard halfway down the hall.”)


	3. Chapter 3

            “No one was especially scared of telepaths back then, in ’15,” said Tom, “except maybe some fringe groups. Everyone’s scared of teeps now, and that’s all thanks to Lee. Look around you, at Teeptown – this place could never exist without the blessing of the people of Geneva, and of the whole Earth Alliance. But this is only the beginning. Lee wants a global Authority. Teeps are his ticket to power. He saw it before any of the rest of us – he who controls the teeps controls the world. The Authority is answerable only to him.”

            “Will the public go for this?”

            “Of course they will,” said Tom confidently. “They already do. You know the propaganda – telepaths are spies, they’re saboteurs, they violate everybody’s privacy. By segregating the teeps, Lee’s saving the world from a fifth column. Take a walk around Geneva, talk to the locals. They will report their neighbors in a heartbeat if they suspect them to be teeps. And those who don’t do it out of fear, do it for the money – the Authority pays a steep reward for turning in a teep.[1] Given enough time and propaganda, the whole world will feel the same way. It’s their civic duty, you understand, to report suspected telepaths and keep the community safe.”

            “But what about the teeps themselves? Why are they going along with this?”

            Tom shrugged. “Most are simply following the laws. We require them to register with the Authority and to wear gloves, and we encourage them to switch jobs. Often they’re forced out when their employers find out what they are, and we give them new lives here. Most join the Authority willingly, if that’s what you’re asking. Those who run, we track down. The few who violently resist, we deal with by force.”

            “With the normal police?” Kevin knew the Authority had its own agents, but pretended to know less than he really did. He usually learned more that way.

            Tom shook his head. “Of course not – many of these rogue telepaths could kill a normal police officer with a thought. We need a special police force to arrest them, and special prisons to hold them.[2] We train teeps themselves for that work – only the very strongest are qualified. Ostensibly their job is to track down fugitives who refuse to be registered, and to arrest teep criminals – and that does comprise most of their work at the moment, but once the Authority is universal, there will be nowhere left to hide. Our agents will keep the peace instead.”

            “But I still don’t fully understand,” said Kevin, carefully. “Why will teeps agree to this? Why will they hunt their own kind? Why won’t they revolt?”

            “That’s simple,” said Tom. “Think back to ’15. The public wasn’t even that scared of telepaths, not globally, anyway, and eighteen thousand still died, because Lee played it right. It’s not complicated. Teeps know that if they can’t – or won’t – control their own people, we’ll do it for them. And that will be… ‘messy.’[3] They are all registered, remember? We know who they are, where they live, where they work.[4] Teep children will all go our schools. Adults wear black gloves, and some wear special insignia at work.[5] Anyone who wants to hurt a teep can easily find his target.[6] And besides, teeps are one in a thousand,[7] scattered over the world. They have no army. What can they do?”

            Kevin remembered the concertina wire around Teeptown, the stunfence, the guards. They weren’t building a “village” – they were building a ghetto.[8]

            “Lee had no problem stirring up mass panic in ’15,” Tom said, “before registration, even before most people had ever heard of a telepath. Registration ended the violence. Everyone loves Lee, even the teeps. He saved them, you see. And as for the normals, he saved them too, by passing law after law through the Senate to save humanity from this new, invisible threat – one that only he and the Authority could save them from. If he could do all that back then, what do you think he could do now, or in twenty years?”

            A chill traveled up Kevin’s spine. He had suspected that darker plans were afoot, but never something so calculated, so intentional.

            He thought of what Europeans had done to his Zuni ancestors,[9] even though having lost his mother at only four,[10] he had also lost much of his connection to her people. He thought about the history the other indigenous nations of the Americas – violence, dispossession of land, broken treaties, boarding schools, government agencies to oversee them like “wards of the state.” This was different, but it was no less sinister.

            “There will always be a handful of rogue telepaths,” Tom was saying, “but we will keep them contained. We will build special prisons for them, and reeducate them so they can rejoin society. You mentioned the wire earlier. Some day, it may not even be necessary. Telepaths will control themselves.”

            “And who will enforce this?”

            “Agents of the Authority.”

            “Other teeps?”

            “Yes.[11] They already do. Deep down inside they all know why. If they don’t, massacres of ’15 will be nothing in comparison to what’s coming.[12] It’s a simple choice, really.” He grinned smugly, and Kevin remembered what Tom had said about the children who were permitted to leave and visit their parents – they were the ones the Authority had deemed “able to control their powers.” He thought of Akimba, running rhymes through his head.

            The real walls, the real concertina wire, Kevin knew, weren’t physical – they were invisible, internal. They were carefully taught.

            Tom continued. “Our agents will keep the peace, because alternative would be so much worse.[13] Everyone will know it, whether it’s said aloud or not.[14] Rogue telepaths will be too busy fighting the Authority, and each other, to pose a real threat. And what can teeps really do, anyway, when we outnumber them a thousand to one? We divide, and we conquer.”

            Telepaths were rare in the general population, scattered all over the world, in every country, in every culture. They had no nation, no military, no linguistic or cultural cohesiveness, and they were banned from holding public office. If the normal populace ever rose up against them, the outcome would be genocide.[15]

            He nodded, slowly, letting the information sink in. It was ironic, he realized – the best chance telepaths stood against such an existential threat would be organization, unity, discipline, training – and that could only come out of the Authority itself.[16] Such an Authority would bring telepaths together in common cause. He could build that Authority, if he could be named director some day.

            If no one discovered his secret.

            “Now you understand at last, Mr. Vacit. Lee has big dreams, but they must be rolled out very slowly. If we – you – play the cards right, the teeps won’t even realize what’s happening until it’s too late. When they wake up, they will be under our thumb.” Tom gestured, pressing his right thumb into the palm of his left hand, as if squishing a bug. “Remember, he who controls the teeps, controls the world.”

            Kevin cleared his throat. “That’s a lot to take in,” he said, carefully.

            “Just keep an open mind.” Tom swept his arms wide. “This is all yours now, Mr. Vacit. Welcome to it.”[17]

            Kevin wondered if Tom Nguyen meant Teeptown – or the world.[18]

 

[1] Dark Genesis, p. 195

Two rogue telepaths, leaders of the Underground, discussing their plot to kidnap a (possibly autistic) telepath boy from his home in rural Canada, circa 2189:

"We didn't get much of [the Corps communication about the boy], and parts of it were garbled. The Corps has a new code, and about twenty percent still comes through scrambled. A boy, age thirteen - Remy Ligeau. The usual stuff - freaked out in church, somebody passed it on."

"I'm surprised. I've never seen a more closemouthed community."

"Yes, but the reward for turning in a teep can be pretty steep."

[2] Dark Genesis, p. 50

[3] Final Reckoning, p. 243

[4] _Id._ , and throughout. (For example, see Dark Genesis, p. 218, "We still have normals to deal with. Right now, however much we hate to admit it, they are our masters. I am the director of Psi Corps only because they do not know what I am. The next director will probably be a mundane, and who can guess what direction politics might take in the future?

"I have seen our situation shift too many times in my life. It will shift again. Perhaps one day they will decide that Earth would be better off without our kind altogether. If they have us all registered, all in the Corps, all in one place - well, that will make their job the easier, won't it?")

[5] Final Reckoning, p. 243

[6] _Id._

[7] _Mind War_

[8] Final Reckoning, p. 243

[9] Dark Genesis, p. 20-22, 93-94, 158

[10] Dark Genesis, p. 20-22, 215

[11] Final Reckoning, p. 243

[12] _Id._

[13] _Id._

[14] _Id._

[15] _Id._

[16] Dark Genesis, p. 218-219

[17] Dark Genesis, p. 84

[18] _Id._


End file.
